A Father's Failures
by Evil-Ekat
Summary: Snapshots of the life McGucket and his son lives in Gravity Falls before the day when everything they would care about would change reared it's ugly head. Formerly Hazy Summer Days, no longer a collection.
1. A Father's Failures

**I'm sorry this took so long. But when you look at the word counter, you'll understand why this took so long for me to write. A little creative liberties on the name of McGucket's son and his nickname, although it is a fairly reasonable name. Also, I might have married Pacifica's voice actor to McGucket, but that's only because I needed a name, and Pacifica tends to be a b!tch. Yeah, I'm sorry that this kind of became tenthousandish words, so I split it in to two parts. I'll update the second half a bit later.**

**Title: A Father's Failures**

**Summary: Snapshots of the life McGucket and his son lives in Gravity Falls before the day when everything they would care about would change reared it's ugly head. **

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Family/Humour/Tragedy/Angst**

**Requested By: zZzBluesaphirezZz**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

><p>"Daaaad!" A little voice whined.<p>

"Yes Hadron?" McGucket senior asked, as he struggled with several boxes.

"There's nothing to do here!" He huffed.

The man set down the cartons he was struggling to carry in the hall of their new home by thefront door. Then, he turned to face his son. The little boy stood there with his hands on his hips, and lips in a puppy-dog pout. If his eyes were not covered by his shaggy brown hair, they would be begging for something interesting to do as well. Knowing the expression all to well, the man replied;

"You could always help me move our stuff in to the house."

"But that was the last of the stuff!" Hadron pointed out.

Fiddleford looked around in surprise. Sure enough, all of the other crates and what little furniture he and his twelve-year-old son had moved were now in their places. The back of his truck was empty, and the only things that remained were the two boxes on their front porch. The duo had just moved in to a relatively small house on the lake. It was situated in the even smaller town of Gravity Falls. So there was not much to arrange in the first place.

Knowing what trouble the curiosity of a little boy could bring, the older man decided that it would be for the best if he and his son found a way to keep busy for a while.

"Tell ya' what then? Let's go explore the town." He suggested.

"Alright." His son slowly relented.

The two of them made the relatively short walk to town. Fiddleford made sure to take note of all the street names as they walked, not wanting to get them lost during their first night in Gravity Falls. They passed a diner, the town's newspaper office, a dance studio, and many other buildings as they explored.

There was nothing overly interesting about the town though. It was a little run down, but that was the most of it. Even the citizens of the town seemed to be rather sleepy. Well at least they thought so until a lady dressed in pink came running down the street, screaming at the top of her lungs;

"Ghosts! Ghosts! There are ghosts in the diner and they're haunting the pie plate!"

She continued to scream at the top of her lungs, and frantically resumed running down the street. Father and son looked between each other, surprised by the lack of reaction from people. Some seemed a bit nervous, and decided to head to the diner and see for themselves, while others just shook their heads and resumed daily life.

"I wonder what that was all about..." The little boy wondered.

"Probably just the town's local crazy." The older man waved off, watching as a person holding a book run to the general direction of the diner. "Most small towns usually have one."

Interesting... They looked like the person who had advertised the job offer to him. Fiddleford had originally accepted the ad he had found in a newspaper, offering a decently paid job as an engineer. Seeing as there were no available jobs for an engineer in California, he and his son had come here for the summer to check out the town and the job. After all, with what was coming, he was going to need all of the money that he could possibly get.

"Are we really going to spend all summer in this place?" His son wondered, wrinkling his nose. "And why isn't mom with us?"

Fiddleford winced at this particular subject. They had agreed to call it some "time off" from each other, but he knew that it was more likely to end in a divorce. A divorce that would lead to a custody battle. And he would need all the money he could possibly get to fight against his wife's lawyers.

"We're just spending a little bit of time away." The man gently explained. "Think of this as our little summer adventure."

The little boy looked even more skeptical at this. It was the same answer he had received over and over again. He did not know what or why his parents would be hiding something from him! He just wanted to know why he would have to spend his time in a dirt-boring town that was full of crazy superstitious people!

"But what if no one from school remembers me in September?!"

Fiddleford gave a laugh at this and ruffled the boy's hair.

"I can assure you that won't happen. Besides, we'll make plenty of friends here!"

* * *

><p>Fiddleford practically dragged himself home after his first day on the job. It was impossible! Inconceivable! There was no way that this could possibly work! After seeing what he had seen, Fiddleford was tempted to pack up his bags and leave with Hadron as quickly as possible. But, he needed the money, there was no other choice. He couldn't bare the thought of being separated from his son.<p>

The man collapsed on the couch, not even bothering to take off his shoes. It gave a broken wheeze and practically bent under his slim build, but the man did not really care. His back ached, his feet ached, his everything ached after that first day! And there was going to be a tomorrow, and a day after that, and then a day after that- No wait, tomorrow was Sunday, no work then. But then there would be a day after that, and a-

"You're back!" Hadron eagerly said, poking his face above the man's feild of vision.

"Y-yeah, I'm back alright." Fiddeford agreed with his son.

"So how was your first day at work? What's your boss like?"

The man blew out a long breath at this, wanting to change the subject.

"It was, interessin' to say the least. Were you fine on your own today?"

"I'm twelve dad, I can stay home alone for a little bit." Hadron pointed out.

"Well, alright." He said, still feeling unsure about leaving his son alone while all those _things _ran around.

"The people here are a bit strange though." Hadron added as an afterthought. "Always trying to pass on urban legends to people."

If only they were just legends. Still, he tried to laugh off his son's remark.

"Yeah, it's just something they like to say to the tourists I guess. Make them buy the knick-knacks and such."

"I guess so..." The little boy trailed, thinking back to his first experiences. "Anyways, now that you're back we can try out your latest boat models like you promised!"

Just the very idea of getting up from his spot on the sagging couch made Fiddleford want to groan. He was so tired! But still, he didn't want to disappoint Hadron. He had made a promise. It wasn't fair for him to go back on it. He really wanted to spend a good amount of time with his son this summer, without his wife scoffing as she supposedly passed on his "nerd habits" to her son.

And besides, before he had discovered what his new job was really going to entitle, he had been wanting to see if the different engines he had made could compare to the ones normally put in toys. Simple, yet complex all at the same time.

And if he could find a better, more powerful-one, who knew what fortune could be made? Not only would it just benefit toys, it could help fuel an industry of smaller appliances, there were so many possibilities. Maybe even a little device to scare away those pesky gnomes that had chewed on his truck's tires...

"Sure thing." He agreed, ruffling the boy's hair. "Just give me a moment to get changed."

Soon enough, they were out on the rocky shore of the lake, preparing to set sail. Hadron whipped out the clipboard that had their list of things to brink.

"Provisions?" He asked.

"Check." His father replied, holding up the paper bags with their ham and cheese sandwiches.

"Sunscreen and bug spray?"

"Check?"

"Fishing nets?"

"Check?"

"Life jackets?"

"Check."

And so the list went on. All their boats, a speedometer that Fiddleford had built himself, the motors that they would place in the toy boats, his son's scientific calculator, and an excess amount of sharp number two pencils. Once they were certain that they had everything they needed, the duo set off on their adventure.

Fiddleford found a nice spot in the middle of the lake, just a little ways off shore from a tiny island. He and his son quickly began to test all of the different boats, marking down statistics and determining which had the best, most efficient engines. Soon, the summer sun sunk behind the horizon, and any people who had been out on the lake seemed to vanish like they had never been there.

Father and son paused for a moment to start on their late dinner, and watch what little remained of the Oregon sunset. Soon the stars came out, each standing brilliantly in the inky black sky. Hadron stared at them in what was most likely amazement between the messy locks of his hair.

"How come the sky doesn't look like this in Piedmont?"

"Because." He explained between mouthfuls of sandwich. "Piedmont is mainly suburbs, there is too much light pollution for the stars to be made out as easily."

"I like the sky here a lot better." His son quietly said.

"What's that I hear? You _like_ something about Gravity Falls?"

"What?! No!" The little boy tried to deny. "It's just interesting is all!"

"Of course." Fiddleford smiled. _"At least one of us likes it here."_

They were quiet for a moment, until something caught the attention of the duo. Bubbles were rising from one side of the lake, next to the island they floated to. Curious, they both kept quiet as to not scare away what ever was making the disturbance in the water.

Suddenly, the once calm water of the lake started to become choppy, the waves threatened to capsize the boat. Father and son shared a nervous look, wondering if they should leave. Then, the tremors began to start. They watched in awe as the island where the bubbles were began started to rise out of the water. To the man's horror, there was a huge, disfigured face on the side of the island, with a mouthful of huge, decaying teeth, and glowing yellow eyes.

"Run!" Hadron screamed in horror.

Fiddleford gave a scream of his own, and started to fumble with the motor of the boat, his fingers shaking as he tried to let them escape. The boat roared to life, and they began to escape the giant island head. But, it began to follow after them, floating over the water. It opened it's already gaping mouth, and several large teeth fell from it as it began to speak in an unearthly wail;

"Efil fo sorroh eht epacse dna htuom ym retne!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!" They screamed simultaneously.

"Etal oot si ti erofeb Sllaf Ytivarg morf nur!"

The island head grew closer, but they had not reached the shore yet. Hadron gave another shriek of fear, and latched on to his dad's leg, not caring how uncool that was. He squeezed his eyes shut, wanting the nightmare to end. Panicking now, Fiddleford started to do everything he possibly could to fend off the monster.

"Back!" He snarled, throwing things in it's mouth.

"Elgnairt eht tsurt ton od!"

Fiddleford picked up everything he could reach with his crying son latched on to his leg in a death-grip. Cameras, new boat models, the fishing nets, Hadron's scientific calculator. The man walked over, Hadron and all to pick up a shovel. Driven to protect his so , he hurled it like a javelin in to it's mouth. The monster gave a gutteral shriek as it stuck in to the roof of it's mouth, and it started to slow down. Eventually, it stopped all together.

There was a sudden thud, both McGuckets were sent hurling from the boat, and on to the shore of the lake. Too stunned to do anything, they lay there in the wet sand, taking in deep breaths of the lake air as they tried to remain calm.

"W-we made i-it." Fiddleford gasped.

"W-w-what was t-that?" His son cried.

The man fumbled to find some sort of scientific reason for it. It just, didn't make sense! The gnomes could be considered an odd species of animals at least, but this made no sense! There wasn't magic! Just science! Things weren't supposed to float! How did an island develop a face? Even as he thought this, Fiddleford felt something mocking him.

"I-I don't know..."

* * *

><p>Fiddleford awoke the next morning, groaning in pain as his alarm clock went off. After last night, he really wanted to do anything but show up for work. This was just beyond his area of expertise on what to do. All his instincts told him to take Hadron and get out of this town forever, but the promise of a salary, and a reminder of what was to come were stronger. Loosing the custody battle would leave him with nothing. Considering all that he had left was Hadron, and the money for his education, that was not very much.<p>

The man got up with a stretch, and wandered in to their kitchen. He turned on the coffee maker, and waited for it to make some. The man did not even bother to glance at his reflection. He already knew that his hair would be a mess, and he had fallen asleep in his "scientific study" clothes last night.

"Dad." A quiet voice from behind him said.

The man jumped in surprise, Hadron sat behind him at the kitchen table. He had not even realized that his son was sitting there he was so tired. The boy had books spread across all of the table, and was twiddling a pencil in his hand as he looked up at his father.

"Oh, sorry Hads, didn't see you there." He apologized.

"You didn't see that the coffee maker isn't plugged in either." His son pointed out.

Sure enough, it wasn't. The man cursed lightly under his breath, and plugged it in.

"What are you doing up this early anyways?" He inquired. "It's five in the morning Hads."

"I couldn't sleep." The boy admitted. "And I wanted to see you before you left for work."

"Well, you saw me." Fiddleford sighed, gesturing to his disheveled state.

"I don't think your boss will let you show up like that." Hadron fretted.

"You'd be suprised." He muttered. "But thanks for your concern."

Hadron yawned, not replying to his father's claims right away. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced down at all of his books and papers once more, remembering what he wanted to ask the man.

"Have you seen my scientific calculator anywhere?"

Fiddleford thought for a moment, and winced when he remembered what exactly he had done to the calculator. It was sunk in the lake with at monster now.

"Hads... I might have thrown it at the monster last night..."

Hadron shuddered as he thought back to the floating island head. That was the reason why he could not sleep last night. Even if he did not plan on telling that to his dad.

"That's alright, I'll work on checking the boat calculations later."

"I'll get you another one when I'm in town today." He promised.

The man picked up the coffee pot, now that it was finished boiling. Without adding anything to it, the man drank a steaming cup, straight, black coffee. Hadron winced at this, wondering how anyone could stand to do something like that. But Fiddleford was used to the stuff, he had spent many long nights drinking nothing but as he invented.

Fiddleford set down the mug, and then picked up a briefcase that contained a few of his inventing things. He ruffled his son's hair, or at least tried to from the hat that it was always contained under.

"Bye son! Don't go anywhere near that lake, or in the forest! Stay safe! Don't trust anyone or anything suspicious!"

As Hadron watched his father quickly sprint out of the house with his coat, flapping behind him, he could not help but say;

"Only if you do as well..."

* * *

><p>The second day at work was no easier. Nor was the third, or the fourth. The same applied to the sixth, and the seventh. Even the break he had on Sunday seemed more difficult than it really should have been. Now Fiddleford sat at the kitchen table, squinting through his glasses as he reviewed the outlines for some circuits.<p>

They should have been child's play, they were only for Hadron's calculator after all. But for some reason, it would not work. According to the theory, it should have been perfectly functioning. But it wasn't! Perhaps there was some deficiency in the wires? Or the circuit board itself?

Fiddleford gave a sigh, he had promised Hadron that he would have his new calculator soon. But a week and a bit later was not sooner! They still had not been able to figure out the calculations of their little project. An ache started to form in his neck as he remained craned over the plans. The man pulled off his glasses, intending to polish them. But as he did, a sudden laughter rang through the air.

Fiddleford felt a shiver of fear run down his spine as the inhuman laugh rang through the room. Suddenly, the colour drained out of the room, and and with an obnoxious "pop" the strangest thing Fiddleford had ever seen in his short time in Gravity Falls appeared before him.

It was a triangle, no, more of a 2D pyramid with a single eye. It was a bright yellow, and wore a black bow tie and top hat. It had skinny black arms and legs, along with a single eye. It looked like something that Hadron might doodle on his math homework. Evidently, it was the one that was laughing.

_This odd triangular being has appeared in my dreams for weeks..._

Fiddleford gave another shiver as he recalled the words of his employer. This was not good.

"W-what are y-y-you?" The man stuttered, backing out of the kitchen.

The triangle vanished with a flash, and suddenly appeared behind the man, promoting him to back away from his only escape from the kitchen.

"Not what. "The triangle practically giggled. "Who!"

"Ummm... W-who are y-you exactly?"

The triangle grabbed his hand, and began to shake it. Giving what was presumably a wink, he introduced;

"Well I'm Bill, Bill Cipher, and I happen to be the current Master of the Mind, and I-"

The demon suddenly launched off on a long list of all the things he did, refusing to let go of the man's hand, even though he was trying to pull himself away.

"W-what do you w-want?"

"Oh, nothing that concerns you." Bill waved off. _"Yet."_

"T-then g-g-get out!" He stuttered.

The demon suddenly stopped his somewhat benign chatter, and fixed his eye on the man. Voice darkening, Bill slowly said;

"You know, you _really _ought to watch your tone. Who knows what little "accidents" could befall you and your little off-spawn."

_Hadron._

"Y-you l-leave him o-out of this!" He stuttered. "This is obviously about my boss!"

"Obviously you say?" Bill wondered.

"What else could it possibly be? What kinda' twisted weirdo would have interest in some twelve-year-old kid that moved to Gravity Falls for the summer?"

"This twisted weirdo does..." The demon mused. "But I don't have to worry about them for another thirty human years or so. Of course, that's only the blink of an eye for me. Haha! Get it?! Eye?!"

"Yes, I g-get it. I've got a masters in engineering, I think I can figure out a pun!"

"Ha! Science!" Bill laughed, picking up the calculator he had been experimenting with. "Trust me, it ain't gonna' do you any good in Gravity Falls. No degree is going to prepare you for, I don't know, building a gateway to unimaginable power, or nearly causing the apocalypse."

Paying no mind to Bill's possible foreshadowing, Fiddleford tried to reach for the calculator he had been working on, but he suddenly found that he couldn't reach it from the demon. And in the blink of an eye, it felt like he was a wimpy kid on the playground all over again, practically swimming in his too-big inventors' clothes, having everything held out of his reach, being tormented to no end.

"Give it back!"

"Why should I?" The demon inquired as he rearranged the circuitry of the calculator, no doubt breaking it beyond any repair possible.

That classic line only brought on more of those unpleasant childhood memories. Fiddleford gritted his teeth, doing his best to shut out all of the bullying. That was all the past, it was beyond him and he had more important things to dwell on.

"I know what your worst memories are." Bill said as he fulled the wires out of the calculator.

_"Looser."_

_"Nerd!"_

_"MCSUCKIT!"_

"I know every last one of your little secrets." The All-Seeing Eye continued as he fiddled with the paths.

_"I belive that this particular model of my robot has the force of a small atomic bomb, nearly enough to flatten' a whole city if programmed to do so. With it, there would be no one who would dare threaten you..."_

_"How legal is this?"_

_"Enough to make the FBI's most-wanted man in America. But I need the money, my son has to go to school, I want his future to be better than mine is."_

_"You'll still be doing our government a great service. We'll take six."_

"I know you biggest fears as well."

_"You better start saving up to get a lawyer nerd. Oh, that's right, once I divorce you, there'll be no way that you can afford them."_

_"... We've reached our verdict, and custody has been awarded to Jackie McGucket née Buscanto..."_

_"Say farewell to Hadron nerd! Tata!"_

_"D-dad! I don't want to go with her!"_

_"I'm s-s-sorry Hadron, t-that's just how it worked o-out."_

_"I hate y-you!"_

_"I hate me too..."_

"And if you don't play by my rules, then you're going to find your stay in Gravity Falls awfully short."

"W-what don't you k-know?" Fiddleford sobbed, as horrible images of terrible memories and fears swam before his eyes.

"Well, I don't know if you'll be willing to make a deal with me." Bill lied.

"A w-what?"

The demon rolled his eye, this guy wasn't very quick on the uptake when it came to Gravity Falls lore. Then again, he had only been living in the town with his son for a week or so.

"A. Deal." Bill slowly explained. "If you do something for me, I'll help ya' out. Think of it as the genie in the bottle thing, minus the three wishes. _And happy ending. _"

"W-what could you possibly do?"

The demon's bow tie twisted in to what could be considered an even larger grin.

"Well, I could prevent all that. Your fears and such. Your crazy female's still going ta' divorce you, I doubt you'd want to change that. But I have ways of ensuring that you get to keep your little off-spaw- I mean son. You wouldn't have to worry about loosing him whether it be to some crazy monster or your wife."

"Y-you could do t-that?" Fiddleford hopefully asked.

"I know everything about everything, it shouldn't be too difficult to bribe a lawyer and alter a few minds." The demon boasted.

The idea seemed almost too good to be true. In fact, it was too good to be true. Fiddleford felt practically giddy at the idea of it, but the only thing holding him back was the idea that the... Dream-demon, wanted something in return. What could he possibly want? Did souls exist? Did a dream-demon have any use for a soul?

"What would I have to do?" The man wondered.

"Nothing much. Just keep working with your boss, help build whatever it is they need for their experiments and so on. Most importantly, you can never leave Gravity Falls."

"Never? Why? What if-"

"Someone gets the idea to clone the perfect boy-band and a twelve-year-old girl kidnaps them with their weirdo friends? A secret society if formed in order to silence those who know too much? You'll deal with it as it heads your way."

"But-"

"Take it or leave it. It's not my life I'm potentially ruining."

"Alright, I'll do it!" The man relented.

Bill handed him back the poor scientific calculator that he had been tormenting. To the man's suprise, it actually looked fine after being torn to pieces. The demon offered him a hand, which was now surrounded by bright blue flames. The man looked at his hand hesitantly for a moment, having no desire to quite literally get burned. But the reminder that this was for his son steeled his resolve.

Shaking the demon's hand, he firmly stated;

"It's a deal."

**_End of Part One_**


	2. A Father's Failures II

**Part two is here! If you catch the reference at the beginning of this chapter, I may have to marry you. Additionally, if you understand the joke in Hadron's middle name, that gives you double the chances of me wanting to marry you. Although, I believe that's a grade nine or ten science question. Well, according the Canadian school system at least. Finally, I wanted to point out that Fiddleford's boss changes to bosses and back to boss through out this, to keep things ambiguous and sit more with the cannon when that comes.**

**Title: A Father's Failures (Part II)**

**Summary: Snapshots of the life McGucket and his son lives in Gravity Falls before the day when everything they would care about would change reared it's ugly head.**

**Rating: K+**

**Genre: Family/Humour/Tragedy/Angst**

**Requested By: zZzsaphirebluezZz**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.**

* * *

><p><em>"Deal."<em>

Fiddleford suddenly woke up. He had been asleep at the kitchen table the whole time! The man took a few deep breaths as he tried to calm down. That was just a very realistic dream, that's all it was. He hadn't really made a deal with that _thing._ With a groan, Fiddleford pulled of his glasses and rubbed his eyes. But to his shock, there was something written on his hand in permanent marker.

_The dream was real. _

_-Bill_

_PS. Look at what I did to your other hand!_

Startled, the man looked at his right hand, which had been outlined in marker. His thumb had a little beak drawn on it, along with an eye.

_Hey look, a turkey!_

This was not good.

* * *

><p>The file for divorce came sooner than Fiddleford had been expecting. And as he had thought, Hadron was not taking the news very well. The little boy had surmised that this was the things that both of his parents had been doing their best not to formally voice to him. Being so left out on the idea made him none the less happy about it. Now Fiddleford stood outside of his son's room as he tried to reason with him, but the boy was not having any of it.<p>

"Hadron!" The man pleaded.

"No one's in here! Go away!"

"Just let me explain-"

"No! You guys were keeping stuff from me!"

"But it wasn't definite yet. We-"

"I don't care! I'm going to run away!"

"Hadron Baryons McGucket! Come out of your room this instant!"

Hadron had never heard his dad yell at him before, he was never the type of person to start yelling when he was upset. He timidly opened his bedroom door, and stepped out in to the hall. He remained fixated on the ground, not wanting to look up at his dad.

"Are you ready to listen now?" The man inquired.

Hadron nodded, sniffling slightly.

"Your mom and I are getting a divorce. But up until this point, we had only talked about it a little. She came to her decision today."

That explained a bit, but he still felt like they could have told him something so major. After all, this was something that effected him as well! He didn't want to be kept out on a secret like that! Hadron felt so betrayed by the idea that he had been left out on this.

"W-why did you guys even get married then?" He wondered, rubbing away his tears. "You guys hate each other!"

Fiddleford winced at this question. There was no easy way to explain to his son why he and his wife were married. It was a bit beyond the boy's comprehension. Especially since he was unaware of where babies came from. Yes, this summer he planned to explain the birds and the bees to Hadron, but not quite yet.

The only reason he had married his wife was for a reason he was not proud of. Originally, they had been dating (If you could even call it that.) because Jackie planned to break his heart at the senior prom as a dare from her friends. The only problem was that she got pregnant. With his son. There was no way he could leave her in a scandal like that, so Fiddleford ended up proposing. But he could not very well tell that to his son!

"I was... A mistake on both of our parts." He explained. "We thought that we loved each other, but we didn't. So now we're getting a divorce."

"Is that one of those adult things?"

"Yeah." He ruefully laughed. "It is."

"Adult stuff is stupid." He sniffled.

"I know."

Normally Hadron would protest if he was hugged. But this time the little boy let his dad hug him, and he did so back.

"You're scary when you yell." He pointed out.

"Really?" The man wondered in surprise. "I would have never thought that I of all people would seem indimidatin'."

"I've never heard you yell before."

"It takes a bit to make me yell."

"I was mad at you." His son defended. "You and mom were keeping secrets from me."

"I'm sorry Hadron, I really am. There were just some things that I couldn't tell you, I didn't want you upset and worrying over this."

Trying to blow his bangs out of his eyes, so he could stare at his dad, the boy said;

"You promise that you won't keep any more crazy secrets." The boy insisted.

Fiddleford gave a nod.

"I promise."

* * *

><p>"-And full custody of Hadron Baryons McGucket has been awarded to Fiddleford Hadron McGucket."<p>

Fiddleford's now ex-wife shot him a nasty look, and while the man normally would have cringed under such loathing, he remained coolly starting at her. It was taking all his self-control not to jump to his feet and dance around the room cheering. Not only had he gained full custody of Hadron, it would now be his wife who would be giving money to help support the two of them! He could quit his job if he wanted to!

But, the man's inward's smile faded at this. He couldn't quit his job and tell his psychopathic bosses to stuff their ideas of grandeur and building a machine that would benefit all human kind. There was still his end of the deal to keep up. He would have to resume working, helping them. Bill's end of the deal had been more than the man had initially expected, and he had to keep his own end up. The man shuddered at the thought of getting on one of the demon's three bad sides.

But with the strain of worrying about loosing Hadron off his back, Fiddleford was certain that he would be able to hold up his end of the deal. After all? How hard could it possibly be?

* * *

><p>Surprisingly enough, work became much easier after the strain of the divorce was off of Fiddleford's back. Once he became a little less uptight around his work. He found that the relations between him and his employer became almost friendly. Fiddleford had not possessed many friends in his time, and the amiable feeling was almost welcoming.<p>

It made life a lot less monotonous and tiring, that was for certain. The adventures to discover new creators, creating all sorts of wonderful plans for amazing things, the never-ending mystery of the town. It was like having a second childhood as he became more absorbed in to the work that he was offered.

A secret base, wireless telephones that could be transported with you like a walkie-talkie, and the latest of his challenges, a portable computer. One with a thin screen, that could fold up like a briefcase. It was practically unheard of by the world, only a few levels of government might actually have their own personal computer!

It was like building their way in to a whole new future! There were so many great possibilities, so many things that they would become capable of through this research. Maybe there would even be a way to harness some of the powers of Gravity Falls, and turn it in to all sorts of use!

But as Fiddleford grew more excited with all the possibilities, and threw himself in to his work, Hadron grew more discontent. Originally, he had been happy that he would not have to live with his mother, and never see his dad, but his dad was always busy now. Hadron wanted to spend more time with him, but he was starting to grow more and more busy with everything that he had to do.

School had of course started up once again, and now Hadron was attending the same middle school as all the other kids in Gravity Falls. He had hoped to make a lot of friends with people, seeing as he spent most of his summer at home or with his dad. But all the kids in Gravity Falls were weird.

They were either too absorbed in their own little lives, or too afraid to trust anyone. Having lived in Gravity falls all their lives turned them all in to scaredy cats, too afraid to risk trusting the new kid just in case he was something less than human.

Less than human... That was how they treated him alright. Like there was nothing in the spot where Hadron McGucket stood. The tween hated every minute of it. Even his teacher had not bothered to learn his name! It was always "you" this, and "boy" that.

"I'm not going to school any more." Hadron huffed.

The boy stomped in to the kitchen, and slung his backpack on to the kitchen table. His father did not even flinch, he remained too focused on his sketchbook, which was filled with plans. Blueprints for a machine that would do wondrous things, that would aid all mankind if he could pull it off.

Hadron sat down on the chair across from his dad, and crossed his arms. He gave another angry huff of indignation, in order to announce his presence once more. He glared at everything through the messy bangs of his brown hair. But the man did not notice this.

"I said, I'm not going to school any more."

Hadron now expected one of two reactions from his father. Either he would not care, and offer to home school him, or he would jump to his feet and do everything in power to ensure that he continued to go to school. But to his surprise, he was met with neither one.

"That's great Hads." The man waved off in an absent tone. "How was your day?"

Realizing how out of focus his father was, the boy pulled the book with all of his rough sketches away.

"Hey! What? Hadron?" The man wondered in confusion. "When'd you get here?"

"I got here three minutes ago dad." The tween sighed, tossing the book back to him.

Fiddleford picked it up and resumed his work as he talked to his son.

"Were you trying to get my attention?"

"I'm not going to school anymore." He repeated for the third time.

The man sighed, and pulled off his glasses. He rubbed them on the side of his coat before placing them back on his nose and turning back to face his son.

"Why?"

"Everyone acts like I don't exist!" Hadron insisted. "Even the teachers!"

"I'm sure it's all in your head Hads, you just need to open your mind to the idea that you can make friends with the people here, no matter how strange they may seem."

Clearly the man could not hear the irony in his words, as just months ago, it had been him complaining about the weird eccentricities of his own employers. Now he didn't believe Hadron on the fact that all the kids at school treated him as if nothing was there. As if at any given moment, he would turn in to one of the monsters that frequented the town.

"I'm telling the truth!" The tween insisted. "Why can't we just move somewhere else?"

_"Because I'd be breaking a deal if we left Gravity Falls."_

"No we're not dad! There's something wrong with this town! There's something going on here!"

This struck a slight shiver of fear down his spine. There was something wrong with the town. Gravity Falls wasn't a safe place to live, nor was there any rhyme or reason for anyone to want to live in the town. Yet, people still remained living there for some reason.

Surely it could not be because of financial issues, there were plenty of well off people in town, and there were cheaper places than Gravity Falls to live. So why did everyone remain living in a place that they were all so afraid of? What hellish force was keeping them from leaving Gravity Falls?

And yes, there was something big in Gravity Falls. That something big was currently being worked on. And the rough plans for it rested on the kitchen table, with McGucket carefully encrypting all the information as he went, so that way only a select few would ever be able to get their hands on the plans. Disaster awaited if some crazy, selfish, man managed to get a hold of all the journals, and build a device of his own. The results would be positively catastrophic.

"Gravity Falls is perfectly normal Hadron." Fiddleford replied in a steely tone. "Now go get started on your homework."

* * *

><p>One year later, Hadron still found himself living in the quote on quote "completely normal" town of Gravity Falls. No amount of proof he brought to his father made him change his mind. Pictures, sketches, recordings, video, none of it did anything to budge his father's mind, and it had gotten to the point where Hadron had debated capturing a live species.<p>

But as he sat in the forest that night, Hadron had no idea what he was going to possibly achieve. He had promised his father that he would stay out of the forest long ago, but it wasn't like he was there to care. Besides, if there were so many dangerous things in the forest, they would have come out of the forest by now, and gotten him as he was left home alone to his own devices.

Hadron was sitting in a tree, waiting for something, anything to come by. He had sat up a little trap at the base of the tree, and put in a variety of lures in it, hoping that this would somehow allow for any kind of creature to stop by and become ensnared.

He had placed a few fishing lures, along with live bait, chopped up hotdogs, grass, and salt. He had carried everything with gloves, in order to ensure that his scent would not be left on the bait. Hadron had even taken care to set up so that way the wind was not blowing his smell in the direction of any supernatural creatures.

Now he waited for something to come along, and fall in to his trap. From there, he would hopefully be able to take it back to his father, and truly prove that Gravity Falls was not a normal town! That there was more than just the giant floating island they had encountered, and was written off as a nightmare.

The teen nearly fell out of the tree as he heard something stirring through the forest.

"Shhh! Did you hear somethin'?" A raspy whisper asked.

To Hadron's surprise, he recognized the voice who replied.

"Yes." Said Fiddleford.

Hadron watched in his shock as his dad shone the lantern he was holding around the forest. All it did was illuminate the trees, and create ghostly shadows. Evidently, the other voice was coming from behind him, avoiding the light for the most part. But as a single beam fell on the figure's face, Hadron fought back the urge to gasp. It was his dad's employer! But why were they out in the woods?

"It was probably just a gnome." His boss eventually waved off.

The two resumed their walking. They were investigating the trees, very obviously looking for something. Their quiet voices whispered to each other, but were caught echoing on the wind. Hadron was able to make out bits and pieces of what they were saying to each other.

"I know this isn't an easy thing to ask for, but I need more funds."

"Are you trying to say that you need to cut my pay?" Fiddleford asked.

"What? No! I can pay you of course! But oil prices are up, and shipping stuff like that to Gravity Falls costs money. I only need a couple grand. Three or so."

Hadron knew as anyone else that they were not the most well-off people in Gravity Falls. Why would his dad's boss be asking them for money? What did he even need the money for? This didn't make any sense! The teen wanted to scream that to the two of them, but he could not just risk giving away his position like that either.

"Well, I really don't know. There's always a little extra from what I get from my ex-wife, but I've been putting that i Hadron's trust fund."

"Well how much do you have now?"

"More than enough, but there's still things like textbooks and-"

"Fiddleford, we'll be rich when we pull this off. It won't hurt you to invest a couple grand in to this."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." The man said, brightening. "I'll head to the bank tomorrow."

The duo resumed whatever it was they were doing, digging in the forest floor. From there, something gold that glinted in the night was buried there.

"Too bad those truth teeth are only good if you wear dentures."

After that, the both of them left. Hadron had no idea what that conversation between them had been about, but he knew that it was not good. There was something foreboding about the whole thing. And by the sounds of it, he would not be proving to his dad that there was a supernatural side to Gravity Falls. Especially since he already knew it was there.

* * *

><p>"I'm home!" Hadron declared. "And I've got us the groceries!"<p>

The young man was met with no reply. Typical. Hadron set down the grocery bags on the kitchen counter, and started to unload them. One bag of apples, bread, margarine, the cheapest cereal there was, a few packs of spaghetti, and milk.

For his dad, he had purchased five more canisters of instant coffee, along with a life supply of instant noodles. They were the only things his dad ate as far as he was concerned, seeing how the other food was never touched by him. Sometimes Hadron wondered what all the salt and caffeine was doing to him. But the rest of the time he did not care, because they were the cheapest items on the grocery list anyways.

Come to think of it, nearly a whole week had passed without seeing his dad. There hadn't been any show that he had returned at all. The shower remained unused, the bed in his dad's room was still unmade, and so on. Well he probably had remained at his bosses' place to work on whatever the hell it was he did. Or he could have been mad at him after Hadron discovered that his father had not paid the water bill. That now meant he was paying for everything, excluding the mortgage on the house.

The young man just gave a sigh of disgust, and sat down at the kitchen table. From there he plucked an apple off of the counter and polished it before taking a rather fierce bite out of the fruit ball. Pencil in hand, he drew a balance sheet with a few rough estimates on one of the backs of the papers that always covered the table. Hadron could care less if it was a bill, or a part of his dad's work, there were more important things to dwell on

**Hadron McGucket**

**Balance Sheet**

**June 18, 1978**

**Assets**

Cash... $6186.18

Boats...$500.00

Groceries...$21.70

Total Assets... $_6706.88_

**Liabilities**

Bills...$562. 30

Dad...$1000.00-3000.00

Misc... $85.00

Total Liabilities..._$1600.30-3600.00_

Hadron McGucket, Equity... $5000.00-2000.00

The man blew out a long breath at this. He was only worth around three thousand dollars at the moment. Considering that there would be more things to pay off, and his dad would need more money, there would not be very much for any liberal spending. Not that this was much of a surprise.

Still, it would probably be best to take a few extra shifts at the grocery store to ensure that he was able to have a little extra spending money. In addition to that, he would try to push his rental boats business to the tourists more. He lived on a lake, it was the best thing he could come up with. Luckily, this happened to be a great source of money, and was even better than his minimum wage job.

But once summer and tourist season ended, there would be no way for him to earn money that way, so he couldn't quit his job at the grocery store. This was actually a good thing, as Hadron had no time to rent boats to people during his second year at highschool. If he managed to do well enough, he might be applicable for a more generous scholarship at some far away school, and he would finally be able to leave this dump of a town. But until he found a way to scrounge up more money, he'd be remaining in Gravity Falls.

* * *

><p>"McGucket, Hadron Baryons."<p>

Hadron stood up, and walked across the floor to the podium with his head held high, despite his racing heart beat. He grabbed his diploma with one hand, and shook his principal's hand with the other. The principal made some comment or other on his excellent honour role status, and how he would go far in life. Hadron disregarded this, knowing how false the words truly were.

Despite everything, there was no way he would ever be able to float the fees that the universities and colleges offered. Unless he was given a full scholarship complete with accommodations and a way to get there. He did not look at the politely clapping crowd as he moved back to his spot, and sat down.

The ceremony went on until the graduating class of '76 was finished. People excitedly mingled around with each other, talking to their friends and saying farewells to others. None of them talked to Hadron of course, their fears of a supernatural creature laying in wait never left.

This was why no one noticed the tears streaming down at his face as he stared at the useless highschool diploma. Not that anyone cared enough to show up to his graduation. At least he thought so, until he suddenly heard a mild voice say;

"Pardon me, excuse me, sorry there!"

His dad pushed his way through the crowd, straightening his tie and attempting to smooth out the wrinkles in his coat at the same time. Hadron hopped that the infuriating man would not see him, or recognize him without his hat being swapped out for a graduation cap. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

"Hads!" The man said. "There you are! Why didn't you tell me your graduation was tonight?"

"Because you wouldn't have shown either way." Hadron sneered in reply, quickly wiping away the tears in his eyes.

Hurt flickered across the man's face at this.

"I know I'm always too busy Hads, but I-"

"Don't call me that. You're embarrassing me in front of all my friends." Hadron paused, and then made a point of looking around. "Oh right, I don't have any friends! Because from the day I started school, I couldn't get a single fucking person in this entire goddamned town to talk to me!"

"Hadron please-" Fiddleford tried to plead.

"You know what Dad? No. I'm tired of all your excuses and secrets! Neither of those things are going to put food on the table, pay off our debts, and replace the money you took out of my trust fund!"

"Hadron Baryons McGucket! You better listen to me or-"

"Or what?" The young man laughed. "You'll kick me out of the house I'm now paying for? You'll force me to get a job- sorry, a third job?"

Fiddleford continued to try and plead with his son, just to get him to listen to anything that he would say. But nothing he did would help his case. The man watched with tears in his eyes as his son stormed off, too defeated to deal with his failure of a father anymore.

What had he done? How was it that by trying to work, to benefit all man-kind, he somehow managed to loose his son like this? He had done his best to help out. When the gateway was finished, neither of them would ever have to worry about money again, they would be set for life!

But where was Hadron now? Gone. The only thing he really had in the world, his twelve-year old boy left him the moment they came to Gravity Falls. But Bill had promised! The demon said this would never happen if he made a deal with him!

"Hey! Who are you accusing of being a liar?!" A voice asked from behind him.

The colour was suddenly drained out of the scene, and everyone in the room froze in their actions. Fiddleford turned around to face Bill. The demon was holding a cup of punch.

"You!"

"They grow up so fast!" Bill sniffed, wiping away a fake tear.

"You lied!" Fiddleford accused. "I kept up my end, but Hadron's still gone!"

"What are you talking about?" Bill wondered, taking a sip from his punch, which splashed across his front due to his lack of mouth. "I kept up my end too!"

"You said Hadron wouldn't get hurt! That nothing would make me loose him!"

"Ah, but I _also_ promised that none of the monsters in Gravity Falls would come near him." Bill smirked.

"So?"

"Look in the mirror some time." The demon said. "Because you certainly look like a monster to me."

The demon held up a mirror, making Fiddleford stare at his reflection. His hair was mused, having not met a comb for months. The dark circles under his eyes made him look like a raccoon, and there was a five o'clock shadow that made him practically unrecognizable. Scrubby stubble poked through his shadowed, greasy face.

"That doesn't make me a monster!"

"Of course it doesn't! But stealing money from your kid's trust fund, leaving him to pay the bills and supporting the two of ya', and not listening to his fretting about the weird stuff in this town, certainly does! So, like what I did with all the other people in this town, I drove him away. You humans really _are_ monsters!"

"W-wait! You're the reason why Hadron doesn't exist in anyone's eyes?"

"Well how else was I supposed to keep people away from him?"

"You ruined my son's life!"

"No, the only thing I did was hold up my end of a very obscurely-detailed deal that you made with me. _You_, on the other hand-"

"Then the deal's o-"

Bill's eye widdened, and he covered the man's mouth before he could say the words.

"Hey, there's no need to be like that! How about I-"

"Forget it." He hissed.

"Well what if I undid everything?" The dream-demon offered.

"So that way Hadron could be swarmed with monsters the moment he stepped outside?" Fiddleford scoffed. "The deal's off Bill, go back to your trigonometrics textbook."

The demon turned red, and not because of the punch he had spilled on himself. He seemed to grow in size, until he was much taller than Fiddleford.

"You're going to regret that." Bill quietly snarled.

With this final warning, the demon vanished, leaving Fiddleford to wonder what he had just brought upon himself.

* * *

><p>"I quit."<p>

Fiddleford's boss looked up at him in suprise.

"You quit?" His employer dumbly wondered.

"I quit." He reaffirmed.

"B-but-"

"No buts. I quit."

"W-why?" His boss asked, still in shock.

"This project's ruined my life. If we continue it, it's going to ruin more. It's unstable, it's dangerous, and it's never going to take off of the ground. And if you continue with it, you're going to find that you'll end up worse off than me."

They'd never heard his partner speak out like that before. All they could manage to say was;

"Can I at least help you with your stuff?"

"No. Burn it. I don't want to be associated with you or your project. Because when it backfires, and people discover what you did, they're going to come running to me. "

"A-alright. Farewell Fiddleford."

They winced as the door was slammed behind him, as Fiddleford McGucket left the project forever.

* * *

><p>Fiddleford took a deep breath, looking at the speech he had prepared behind the camera. With shaking hands, he turned on the camera, and began to speak.<p>

_"__My name is Fiddleford Hadron McGucket, and I wish to unsee what I have seen."_

_For the past years, I have been working as an assistant for a visiting researcher. He has been cataloging his findings about Gravity Falls in a series of journals. I helped him build a machine which he believed had the potential to benefit all mankind, but something went wrong. I decided to quit the project. But I lie awake at night, haunted by the thoughts of what I've done. I believe I have invented a machine that can permanently erase these memories from my mind. _

The man picked up the memory-erasing ray he had developed, and pressed it to his head.

_"Test subject One: Fiddleford."_

The man pulled the trigger, and the blinding ray flashed. Fiddleford felt his eyes slide back in to his head, and a numbing, buzzing pain fill his head with static. He collapsed backwards on to his bed, fainting dead away.

_First attempt, sucess..._

* * *

><p>"Dad! DAD!"<p>

Fiddleford groaned, rubbing his forehead as someone called his name. Hadron stood above his father, staring at him with what might have been tears in his always hidden eyes. He was shaking his dad's shoulders, concernedly calling the man's name as he did not respond to his cries.

"H-Hadron?" Fiddleford blearily wondered.

"DAD! Are you alright?! What happened?!" The young man asked.

"I-I q-quit my j-job H-Hads." He said in a far-off voice.

"W-what?" Hadron asked, more concerned about the repercussions of him quitting than their current financial state. "What did he do to you? I'll fucking kill the-"

"It's n-nothing Hads." He replied, his voice oddly croaking. "I just haven't been getting proper rest is all."

"Proper rest?! I thought you were dead! This doesn't have to do with proper rest!"

"I'm fine Hads." Fiddleford assured.

"No." The young man firmly said. "We're going to a doctor, and not one of this town's idiot ones!"

He didn't remember that he had broken the deal with Bill.

"N-no! I'm fine!" He assured, thinking back to the promise he had made.

He didn't remember the fight he had with Hadron.

"Dad, we can't just-"

"It's alright, sleep deprivation can do this to you."

It worked.

* * *

><p><span><em>Day Five<em>

_"It worked! I can't recall a thing!"_ Fiddleford exclaimed to his tape recording.

_Day Twenty-Two_

_ "I call it the Society of the Blind Eye. We will help those who want to forget by erasing their bad memories!"_

_Day Seventy-Four_

Disheveled and nervous, Fiddleford began recording on the video tape once more.

_"Today, I came across a colony of little men, very disturbing. I would like to forget seeing this."_

_Day One Hundred Eighty-Nine_

_"I accidentally hit another car in town today. I feel terri-bibble! Terrible. I've been forgetting words lately. I wonder if there are any negative side effects... "_

"Negative. Side. Effects?" A dangerous voice growled from behind him.

Startled, McGucket turned around to face Hadron. His son stood in the threshold of his bedroom, expectantly glaring at the man he once considered his father.

"You've been experimenting on yourself..." Hadron reflected, looking at the mess strewn about the bedroom. "I can't belive it Dad! You've had almost a year to get back on your feet, and you haven't! I've done my best to keep us supported, while you just scrounge around the house all day muttering to yourself, and now I know why! This is the absolute last straw!"

"H-Hads-" The man stuttered in an unrecognizable voice.

"No dad. I can't do this anymore. I just can't."

"Please! I can explain!"

"Explanations aren't going to get you anywhere _Fiddleford._" The young man sneered, trying to hide his tears. "Get out."

Unable to find any way to persuade his son farther, Fiddleford gave a defeated nod. He grabbed some of his nearest books, and quickly packed a suitcase of his things. Hadron watched him with red eyes, doing his best to stay strong now that he had finally worked up the nerve to tell his deadbeat of a father to scram.

Fiddleford took a deep breath, and stepped out on to the front porch of their- Hadron's house. He was doing he best not to cry as well.

"I'm sorry." He softly apologized to his son.

Hadron did not reply, he only stood there at the front door to watch as he left, and taking all his failures as a father with him.

_**Fin**_


End file.
